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Rumor Control on the PS3's Pricetag
Gamespot's 'Rumor Control' this week is pretty interesting, covering the topics of the PS3's supposedly high pricetag, the possibility of the 360 coming pre-loaded with games, and a confirmation of the Inquirer story we ran earlier regarding the cost of ATI's exclusivity agreement with Valve. From the article (re the 360 preloaded game): "The preloaded 'game' in question is actually an interactive application titled Neon, created by lightsynth guru Jeff Minter of Llamasoft. The program is a music visualizer, similar to that used on Apple's iTunes, in that it creates psychedelic patterns and colors based on sound that is fed through the system (which in this case will be music on the 360's 'outrigger' hard drive or a portable music device)."
So we're now up to the 3D0 days.
Shame. I think the viz on my 3DO was one of the better ones to date.
-- I have fans? Wow.
...that someone put visualizations on a game console for playing CDs, dunno why they didn't do it sooner.
Quiet, you. The PS3 does not exist. We don't know anything about such a console.
Damn Sony Jedi mind tricks.
Remember RFC 873!
The article uses the word "probably" when discussing the agreement. Since when is "probably true" make something confirmed fact?
So the submission title says that Playstation 3 isn't going to be expensive, then the submission body is being critical of the Xbox 360. Hello, fanboy article submitters.
Anyway, Sony has become their own worst enemy with the Playstation 3. It's pretty obvious that they were forced to announce the PS3 because of the Xbox 360 announcement. They've now got a marketing nightmare where interest in the PS3 could peak too soon if they're not careful - because of their glacial pace, they're going to be seen as being late to the next-gen party:
(1) They don't want to be talking about the PS3 because they're not ready:
While speaking at ELSPA's International Games Summit in London last week, Reeves declared that the Sony PlayStation 3 is going "underground" until next year. You heard the man: no more talk of this PS3 nonsense. Everyone go pick up a new PlayStation 2, I guess, and stock up on PlayStation Portables while you can.
(2) The president of Sony Computer Entertainment himself said that it would likely be expensive:
He said the PS3 is "for consumers to think to themselves 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else." Take that however you want, but the impression it gives off is that consumers may be a bit surprised at its price tag. Analysts have been pegging it at just under $500 to build with Sony selling it at $399.
"The preloaded "game" in question is actually an interactive application titled Neon, created by lightsynth guru Jeff Minter of Llamasoft.
I find the name rather funny since the last console projects to contain a Jeff Minter light show built in tanked rather hard.
Granted I can appreciate the Nuon and even the Jaguar CD slightly but I'm really hoping for the 360 to die a miserable death. I can only see Minter's VLM as being another nail in the coffin.
My apologies to Jeff Minter. I don't wish him bad, I just think he ties himself to doomed projects.
>> there weren't really any cd games worth purchasing made for the system
>
>Believe it or not, Battlemorph was a great game. Even the critics agreed on that one...
I agree, Battlemorph was good. Iron Soldier 2 was also pretty good. But that about does it for Jag CD games. (Good ones, anyway.)
Now back to the topic at hand - the VLM (Virtual Light Machine) built into the JagCD was quite incredible. I've seen many imitators on the PC, but none seemed to look quite as good (especially full screen and with that many colors). Apparently the VLM would intercept music data as it was streamed off the CD, and used that data to directly create the stunning visual effects via the DSP.
Now I can't believe it has taken this long for somebody to try to replicate that idea. I especially expected to Sony to give it a shot, since they are after all in the business of selling audio CD's, and this would enhance that experience.
Must... think up... something... clever!
Wait, wtf? I RTFA this, which starts off talking about the PS3's price tag, then goes into talking about some developer and a visualizer he is making for it. What does that have to do with anything? Then, the rest seems to talk about 'the 360.' Why does half of it talk about the 'the 360,' when the article is about the PS3 (By Sony, not M$).
WTF did I miss?
Scott Swezey
From, among others, the site that this article is on.
And alas, no debunking of the $399 tag.
Instead, there's a nicely created straw man argument that the PS3 is going to be "the most expensive console ever", and the straw man is beaten down by name-dropping the 3DO.
As if any of this changes the real issue - distinct possibility of the PS3 being a full $100 more expensive than a $299 Xbox 360.
I'm in awe of how quick Gamespot is to dismiss the idea of a game, or multiple games, being preinstalled on the Xbox 360. One of Microsoft's big plans is for their Xbox Live Marketplace and the Xbox Live Arcade for more "casual" gaming. I would refer folks over to this article which is one fellow's introduction to a bunch of the 360's Xbox Live capabilities (the article reads somewhat like a fanboyish droolfest but there are some interesting tidbits about the 360 UI). It's specifically mentioned that there will be free games available through the Xbox Live service (checkers is mentioned as an example) and it's not a stretch to think that the initial versions of those games could be pre-installed on the X360 hard drive. We're not talking free Halo 2 here, but dismissing the possibility of any pre-installed games is very premature.
Every platform Jeff Minter has worked on for the past fifteen years has ended up in trouble. Even Nintedo felt the pinch, slipping into 3rd place in the current gen rankings after Jeff began developing for the Game Cube. The man writes great software, but he has the touch of death.
So *that's* why his GC game was canned.
This is a link to Gamespot's "Rumor Control" feature. It generally goes through three or four rumors a week, depending on how many came out, and addresses their feasibility. In this case, the above summary is about Rumor #4 only, and it is ruled to be bogus. The other rumors surround the X Box 360, and aren't addressed in the summary.
This kind of early speculation is kind of useless, because it's all PR right now. Isn't it entirely possible that Sony is using the sub-press to float around a $399 number, then later when they announce the console at $299 gamers and industry will think it's a bargain. By spreading rumors that the console is $399, they're placing a value on it higher than what the xbox is without actually committing to a price point. Hell, why wouldn't you do that?
To be fair, the platforms he's worked on were already underdogs when he started on them - it's not like he hopped on board a popular platform and it suddenly fell apart.
Besides, I don't think there's going to be any way the 360 is going to flop - as long as there aren't any critical flaws in the hardware, it will definitely be bigger than the Xbox was.
Of course, if it does end up flopping, then I think it will be quite clear he does have that touch of death - but I'm hoping not!
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."